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[FM09] Maidstone - The rise through the English leagues

Maidstone United

This thread will follow my career with Maidstone United up through the leagues. It is being played as part of dafuge's challenge. I will also be updating on the progress on my youth players as part of Neppo's Youth Player Project.

I am currently in May 2034 in my game but will grab all the updates from the challenge thread so those who never followed my progress there can see how I have done.

If anyone is interested in the history of Maidstone United looky here or on wikipedia. I have chosen them as there are actually my local side (before I moved) and available in the challenge.

Re: Maidstone - The rise through the English leagues

From the league finish it looks like a good season, however it did not feel like that. After relegation in my previous attempt it was going to be a challenge to get into a new game and a new team. The first half of the season was awful, maybe 4 wins in total. Then I went back to basics, a very simple 442 and the second half of the season probably only had 4 losses.

Re: Maidstone - The rise through the English leagues

Dominated the league from the very first game. The quality bought in from last season plus a sustained run with very good/superb morale meant the team won games they shouldnt have, a fairly attacking approach was used and can be seen in the goals for column.

Promotion wouldnt have been possible with the loan of the star player and top scorer from Ipswich. The form of Higgins in the 1st half of the season was also critical, he has now gone a 1000 minutes without a goal since his return from injury.

The cups went very well reaching the 3rd round of the FA cup beating a league 1 and BSP sides in the process. Also won the setanta shield beating 3 BSP teams in the way, this bodes well for next season.

Re: Maidstone - The rise through the English leagues

So I decided to start my 1st season in the BSP with a cautious counter attacking approach. First 3 games went win, draw loss. Then in my 4th game I found myself 3-0 down at halftime, a change to a fairly attacking approach pulled the game back to a 4-3 win. I then decided to take this approach in every game and hope that results went my way. I have also got the whole club on full time contracts including staff.

From there onwards never really looked back, stayed towards the top of the league for the entire season. Eventually winning the league title by a very close 2 points.

So at the beginning of the season with the club being newly professional the first task was to bring in good coaches. I was allowed 9, this meant that I could have a decent coach for each schedule and I was actually able to get all 7* coaches.
Secondly I was able to scout UK, France and Spain. So I got rid of the scouts and bought in 7 Scouts with either 20 in JPP or JPA. Its quite amazing how much these change over a season actually. I went searching for good youth players abroad and bought in a massive amount of Irish and Welsh players.

The season started much as the previously one did. One win, one draw and one loss. I decided the quality of my players was much better than previous years and so needed a new formation. I spent much of the first half of the season towards bottom of playoffs, I was drawing a lot of games and so decided a change in formation was required. I only had one decent striker and settled on a 433, this combined with bringing in a couple decent wingers in January pushed me towards the top of the table.

As i continued onwards it looked more and more likely that I was going to get a 3rd consecutive promotion. The 433 was serving me well but I found I lacked the ability to kill games off so have been switching between 433 and 422 depending on game.

A unprecedented 3rd league title was mine. This is pretty crazy, I have never had so much success in so little time previously on football manager. I think next year might be the year I slow up a but I have been starting to struggle to get the most out of my players and am in 2 minds about tactical approach for next season.

Cup runs were pretty poor by my previous standards. I did have an away draw to Sunderland in Carling cup and got thumped 4-1, money however was pretty useful.

Key Players
GK - A Cooper. Missed him though injury for large part of the season, really is the difference between a draw and a win in close games.
DC - M Marshall. Captain for second year running, his only young but has developed tremendously over the season.
MC - J Reason. Last season he spent his time here on loan from Ispwich, so when his contract ran out I jumped in and he chose to come here permanently. An ever present in the team even though Ispwich have sent me two MCs on loan.
ST - P Murphy. On loan from Ispwich for the 2nd time, another great season. On the club favoured personnel and I will try to sign him permanently.

The season started pretty much the same as the last two, a bit of inconsistency whilst I got a feel for the league. I had recruited a fair few Spanish in this season so wasnt expecting a great start until the gelled with the squad and learned English.

For the first half or so of the season I was hanging around the playoffs and as my squad gelled I believed a playoff place was possible. As the season progressed with a few additions in the January window I was on form for a guaranteed play-off spot.

As the season neared the end with 10 games or so I started to think 2nd place was possible, as the games went on I was in a winning streak and the teams above me were dropping points quickly. We ended finishing 2nd and gaining automatic promotion I cant believe how badly Bradford and Southampton played in the last 5 games.

I got 4 goals from direct free kicks

Key Players
GK - A Cooper - Another great season from my young keeper. Hopefully the championship isnt to much for him.
DC - S Villalba - Was my star player, could always depend on him, scored a few vital goals.
MC - G Roberts - on loan from Chelsea, was a class act in my team.
ST - A Fernandez - Another of my spanish stars, would have been top scorer if it wasnt for Paveets form at the end of the season..

This season was a real struggle I bought in far to many players and it screwed with the squad harmony. When they finally gelled morale was low and so breaking a losing run was tough. Eventually did though and ended up 16th in the league.

FA Cup run bought in some much needed money but did give me my 1st Wembley defeat at the hands of Chelsea in the final No european football for me as Chelsea finished 5th.

So with a settled squad going into the start of the season and a new formation developed over pre-season friendlies I was finally ready to make a challenge for promotion.

The season started very well with 6/7 straight wins and a spot on the top of the table. Then with the september transfer window closing fast approaching I got a £5m bid for my best player, he wanted to leave and his contract was up so I had to take the money. It actually gave a couple of other guys to step up and one is now leaving at end of season on a free

As the season went on it looked like we would be in a title fight. With the january window open I didnt want to disrupt squad harmony and so only bought in one striker for £1.8m (Matthews), he played 3 games and got injured for 2 months.

I had a 3 way battle over the final 5 games of the season with Maidstone ending as Champions

The board have decided to expand Bourne Park which belongs to Sittingbourne at a cost of £11m without a loan I also stadium share with Southend whilst the work goes on.

The pre-season was tough, I struggled at 1st to bring in players and was losing all my friendlies. I then got in more scouts so that I had 12 and started scouting everywhere for players under 21.

The season started as I expected, getting thumped by the big teams and trying to scrape draws and wins against the smaller teams. I then had a cup game against a L1 side and won 4-0 and morale went through the roof. Then went on a winning run including beating liverpool at home and league leaders man city. The highlight of the season was this win at Old Trafford.

I lacked consistency over the period of the season, I would beat one the top teams away and then lose to relegation candidates but I finished in a credible 7th place. I also had a fantastic run in the FA Cup with me eventually winning on penalties over relegated Charlton. I started the season with a squad average age of 20 so this team can do better in the coming years.

Team
GK - Poskiparta - Played every game this season, his prone to some mistakes but also has moments of magic.
DR - Bentley - Been with me for a few seasons now, his nothing special but does a job.
DL - Holm - Club captain, never let me down. Only 22 and another Denmark international.
DC - Daugaard - A top class CB plays for Denmark internationally and only 19.
DC - Zambrano - Another class CB, I chased this guy all summer and he didnt let me down.
MR - Steinmetz - Another January signing straight into the top team,
ML - Snowdon - Signed on the cheap from Chelsea, can play on both wings, very useful player.
MC - Mag Man Jr. - His got potential, only played this season because his my son
MC - Nikolic - Signed in January but straight into the top team. Good goal return too.
ST - Cavaliere - Top scorer and a really good goal return in his 1st season.
ST - Matthews - Supports striker spent a lot of the season injured

I was pretty sting all season, I was hoping for a top four finish having built up strongly from last season. The league position graph doesnt really tell the truth, I had a lot of games in hand towards the end of the season because of cup fixtures and water-logged pitch. When Arsenal stole my best player in January I was very weakened in central midfield, probably cost me the UEFA cup but have already signed 3 new players with the money I got coming in next season.

I was pretty happy with my run in the Carling Cup going out in the semis to Mn City and in the UEFA cup I had a massive win over Betis before going out on away goals to Sevilla in the semis. Retaining the FA Cup was a disaster going out to newly promoted Sunderland, who I always seem to draw.

What a fantastic season, league champions and champions league winners. The 1st half of the season was a breeze, I dominated the premier league whilst my challengers faltered behind. Domestically in the cup competitions its a season to forget . Flew through the champions league group in second place behind Real Madrid.

Then in January bought in 2 players, a great young cb and finally an attacking midfielder who was a worthy replacement of the player I lost to Arsenal. (Senol Berk) From here it was a 3 way battle for the league between us, Man City and Arsenal. As the season entered a crucial period with champs league semis and run in to the league the rivals hit a patch of poor form. I used this to my advantage to seize the double.

So another fantastic season with a second consecutive clean sweep but still no season without losses. I think my squad may be able to push for that next season assuming there are no freak results.

I dominated the league from start to finish, the closeness at the end is due to be dropping 9 points in my last 5 games but there title was never under threat. Domestic cup competitions were a breeze, never really felt like losing a game and won them all. The champions league was a bit closer, there were times when I thought I may go out but got lucky with the away goals.

Star PlayersMarkovski + Moore Partnership - Just rock solid, 2nd and 3rd highest average ratings in squad. Both young and class.

Cavliere - Striker and top scorer. A fantastic season for him, would have made 50 goals if he hadnt been injured. I may try to look for a big money sale as I have a young striker who has better stats pushing for a place.

Another great season. With 3 consecutive clean sweeps the game is getting a bit easy so I am going to set myself some challenges, I havent decided what these should be yet. I was thinking along the lines of:
1. All English Team - This could be fairly easy, I am ridiculously loaded and have some fine young upcoming English players in my reserves.
or
2. All Youth Product Team - This is a bit of a longer term challenge, I currently only have 1 player in my team from my youth system and dont even have a youth academy yet.

Another fantastic season, not quite a clean sweep though I decided now to make it more challenging for myself to slowly transform the squad into a combo of English and Maidstone Academy Youth Products, Im at 10 out of 22 at the moment and should be nearer 15 for next season.

So not domestic cups this time but still came away with the league, champions league and club world cup.
Have managed to get the squad down to just 2 foreigners, these will be removed this season hopefully.
Sorry for no player screenshots, been busy and would have taken ages.

Another clean sweep The squad was a lot more settled from last season and with a revert to a 442 after a few weird formations this season was a breeze.

7 of my first team 22 are academy products and my aim is now to have a squad full of academy products. I will only sign the very best English players if I see one otherwise I am restricting myself to no transfers.

Another great season for my all English side, I also now have 9 academy products in my 1st team squad. The league was quite close this year with me winning on the last day of the season, the graph is not a very accurate representation because I always had games in hand. Im pretty busy at the moment so spending time playing rather than long write ups

England Update
A mini section on England because this is the world cup year and I am manager.SquadWorld Cup Run Only conceded 1 goal all tournament.World Cup Final - Winners

Finally another clean sweep This one is special however because I had an unbeaten season.

I spent all season tinkering around with different formation before choosing a 442 which allowed me to win all competition with ease. I probably have the best back 4 in the game and so hardly ever concede a goal, combine with the best English LM, CM and ST games were easily won.

It has all got a bit easy now and I dont know where to go from here. I dont really fancy managing in the lower leagues again and my sons career is only a couple seasons from ending. I might just focus on trying to make Dover great by giving them cash, see bottom of post.

Dover Project
So I have decided to give Dover £10m a season, this will be done by loaning a player off of them with a £10m loan fee. The players loan will be terminated immediately after he has signed with me.

Dover are also a feeder club of mine and so will be sent players on loan if they want to go that low.

Another comfortable season saw me win my 10th league and champion’s league titles, this also season saw an end to my 80 game premier league unbeaten record. I also strolled to success in the league cup, Super cup and club world cup. My success is built on my rock solid defence, I conceded the least and 4 of those were in last game of season when I fielded reserves. I don’t score very many however and I am hoping to develop a more attacking formation and have the best attack in the league.

Dover Project
So I have decided to give Dover £10m a season, this will be done by loaning a player off of them with a £10m loan fee. The players loan will be terminated immediately after he has signed with me.

Dover are also a feeder club of mine and so will be sent players on loan if they want to go that low.

A real tough season this one. I had allowed my squad to become young and small and so struggled throughout the season, if it wasn’t for a massive blip in form from both Man City and Arsenal towards the end I would probably not have won the league. I got destroyed in domestic cups but my domination of Europe continued largely because I avoided English clubs.

Another good season, just went through the motions no real competition this year. However next season will be tough as a lot of my stars want a new challenge and I am going to sell them. If anyone is interested here is what my son looks like at the moment. Will write an update in the youth project thread soon. Mag Man Jr.

Dover Project
Dover have terminated there feeder link with me because they feel it is no longer required due to there rich state. Finished 3rd in the league 2 and got promoted, they will be a premier league side soon

So was the 1st time in 13 years that I hadnt won the champions league Its a shame but it means I have less games to play next season and hopefully can regain my crown and hold on to the premier league.

A tough season, my closest at the top. I actually won with my last game of the season away to Chelsea. The manager there is my old assistant who I allowed to move on into management and didn’t expect him to be so good. I have also managed to reclaim the Champions League from Man City by beating them in the final.

I am also manager of Ghana and have gone two years with them unbeaten and have the African Nations coming up.

Re: Maidstone - The rise through the English leagues

You've had a hugely impressive career with Maidstone mag man. A big and hats off to you!

I love the idea of the Dover project. I had a similar idea for my Estudiantes Santander save, which have started and may report on in this forum if I get time. The difference is I'm trying to improve the prospects of the national team of Nicuragua by signing their better young players, establishing feeder links with the club sides, employing Nicuraguan staff etc. I'm hoping that several years down the line, they will start to benefit from their players surviving past the age of 22!